Recent Events

First, thank you to everyone that participated in Jaime Whitmore's silent auction, which raised $12,500!! But it doesn't end there - we can still help. Jaime and Courtney can use gift cards, or money which can be sent via Paypal to gutzytrigirl@hotmail.com. Also, I believe another auction site is being set up on eBay, but I don't have that info yet. Will post as soon as I find out though. And yes, the years supply of Action Wipes sold on site!

As of today, we are now following 877 interesting people from all walks of life on Twitter. And we are being followed by 209. This social media network is easy and fun. I like it because it allows you to mix business with pleasure. Those that are following me have gotten to know me on a personal level as well as created some business opportunities for us. Check it out and follow me.

NEWS

Life Elements, creators of Action Wipes, is a proud partner of Carbonfund.org. Through our partnership, we are able to offset our carbon emmissions and ship carbon free. In this recent article, Carbonfund.org helps us spread the word about Action Wipes: Want to be a Good Steward of the Outdoors? Stay Clean Responsibly With Action Wipes

Click here and listen to our podcast visit withYoga Mama Satsangha - LaSara Firefox. This was a fun interview where I got to talk about going green and how I started the Life Elements' line of products - C&M Couples and Action Wipes.

If you're riding your bike to work or at lunch and then have to rush to a meeting, read how Karl McCracken from the U.K. found Action Wipes so useful... Just Peachy After a Hard Ride

COMMENTS

• We went on a trek in the Peryar Tiger Preserve and used the Action Wipes quite a bit. It was the end of the monsoon, so the wet and humidity made them really indispensable.
  Thanks for your help!


• Action-wiped myself today and i really dig the scent. these will come in handy backpacking... :)


• I got the package of your products and THEY ROCK! Thank you so much.


• Used my first action wipe today. Fantastic product! Will have to keep on hand in my tri bag for those busy days.


• I used your actions wipes today on my 20 mi bike ride, sis-n-law was like what are those, so i instanly became your advertisement.


• That's it?! Only 6 ingredients?! Wow!

The Competition

They say copying is a form of flattery. I think it's a lack of creativity!

Recently, I've noticed some competitor networks coming to our Action Wipes website and spending quite some time going through our web pages. Two that really stand out are The Thymes Limited and Johnson & Johnson.

So, what are they looking for?

J&J is a household name - they are a HUGE corporation with great baby products, K-Y Jelly and Neutrogena to start. They started coming to the site in June, having landed on our home page by googleing the key words "refresh soothe". Our tagline of course is "Clean. Refresh. Soothe." We've been using it since the day we created Action Wipes.

So maybe they're thinking of doing something with "refresh & soothe" and their Neutrogena brand of products. I think their current tag line, "Touch and be Touched", along with their commercials is sexy and alluring. I wish I had come up with that tag line!

But then I noticed they kept coming back, only this time it was direct, so they must have bookmarked our site. The second time, they spent more time looking at our Slick Lube. One of the things I love about J&J is that they've brought sex into the mainstream with their K-Y Jelly commercials - even though they're a little bit over the top. I mean COME on, who really starts making love at 8pm and keeps it going till 3am?? And without the little blue pill or the one that keeps it up for 36 hours?? Wow. Oh yeah, that's right, it's because silicone lubricant last much longer than sticky water based lubes. Hmmmm, we personally like our C&M Couples Create Passion Personal Lubricant.

Anyway, this has been going on for months...they keep coming back, having taken a look at all our products by now. Jeez, why don't they just call and hire me as a consultant??

The Thymes Limited is not as big as J&J, but they're certainly not small and are a little more bold when it comes to competitor Research & Development. (You typically see their bath & body products at places such as K-Mart, Walmart, Target, specialty boutiques... ) They first came to our site by googleing "essential oil wipes" and landed on our Essential Oils and Aromatherapy page. From there, they explored further and they too returned later - having bookmarked our site. However, they weren't satisfied simply reading about our products - they wanted to actually smell, feel and experience them...

So within a couple of weeks, we receive an on-line order from Madam X for a 15 ct pack of Action Wipes, which sell for $9.50. For shipping she chose UPS Ground, which was a little over $10.00 and would have taken 4-5 days to deliver. So as I typically do when ever someone chooses UPS and I know U.S. Mail will be more cost effective and quicker delivery, I immediately sent her an email and asked if she would prefer U.S. Mail. Offering to make up the cost difference by sending an extra pack of wipes. She wrote back and agreed to the U.S. Mail, but asked for a refund of the difference.

Through out this exchange, I had not paid attention to her email address - until she asked for a refund. Now typically, most buyers choose the extra pack as it's a really awesome deal - so I check out the email address and find that the extension is xxxx@thymes.com. I then check the delivery address and guess what? It's The Thymes Limited headquarters in Minnesota. Now COME on...I'm not a genius, but I'm not stupid either. (However, I do know women with extremely high IQs, but they're still stupid. I call them "stupid smart women" (SSW).) Do you really think I can't figure out what they are up to?? Of course they're in the process of developing their own wet wipes!

Needless to say, I refunded her the money - all of it, including the pay pal fees and advised I could not put my heart into delivering my baby into their hands for R&D purposes. I know they'll find a way around me if they're really interested, but let them work harder at it! What would you have done??

We'll save the Burt's Bees story for later...